Sooyoung headed straight to her office's desk that morning. Crossing her arms and burying her head on it, she yawned. "I'm tired." She was just thinking about calling Kyuhyun, when a knock on her door was heard. "Come in!"
It was Jessica. "Hey Soo! Good Morning!" She greeted, sitting in front of her desk, frowning. "What's that look on your face? Haven't got a good night's rest?"
She smiled weakly. "Ah! What do you expect?" She stood up, pulling the strings of the window blinds from behind. "Anyway, is there something you're going to tell me?"
"Eung, actually there is." she looked down. "Yuri can't catch up with the meeting later, she will not be able to present her report of the company's production and sales."
She just nodded. "So... it doesn't mean we're going to cancel the meeting because of her, right? I'm just saying..."
"I get it."
Sooyoung sighed, sitting down. Putting on her reading glasses, she started typing some documents. "Let's meet at the conference room later."
Jessica's eyes looked sad, leaving Sooyoung's office. She just headed straight to her desk and prepared for her presentation. 
"Yuri, are you alright?"
"Yes." Yuri coughed. "Sica, you don't need to worry. I can take care of myself."
"I'll come visit you at the hospital later."
"If you insist." she cleared . "What did Soo said?"
Jessica sighed and rested her head into the back of her seat. "She said you should be more careful."
Yuri nodded. "Eung..."
"Anyway, just wait for me there. You should go rest now!"
"Eung..." Yuri put the phone down. 
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

As soon as the meeting had ended, she walked, rushing into her office to check her phone if Kyuhyun had sent her some messages. The inbox reads:

Choi Siwon
Kim Hyoyeon
Choi Siwon
Choi Siwon
Cho Kyuhyun
Choi Siwon
Kwon Yuri

"What's with this punk?" she said, as she saw Siwon's name which appeared numerous times. She opened Kyuhyun's message and ignored the rest.

From: Cho Kyuhyun
Sooyoung-ah, meet me at the café that we used to go to. Later at 5pm ~ I'll be expecting you.

She felt joy and nervousness mixed with sadness. She looked at her wristwatch, "30 minutes before five... I still have half an hour to drive there." She quickly grabbed her coat and bag, rushing with excitement, she ran over Jessica. "Ah! Eung... Sica, how do I look? How do I look?!"
Jessica, looking confused, looked at her for a moment. Tucking Sooyoung's hair behind her ears, she said, "Soo... of course you look adorable."
Eh? Adorable? "That's it?"
Jessica chuckled. "Do I need to say it? You look beautiful, honey. You're gorgeous."
Sooyoung nodded. I'm just gonna trust you about that. "Alright, I'll be going." she left, patting her on the shoulders, which left Sica thinking. Someone's up for a date. "Hwaiting!" she yelled.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sooyoung stood outside the café for a minute. She let out a deep breath, as the smoke comes out of . "This is where it all began." She closed her eyes, reminiscing how Kyuhyun and her got into some magic.

FLASHBACK:

Sooyoung had just got out of the university and is taking a break at a nearby café. She was getting her research paper done, when someone approached her.
"Ms. Choi?"
She turned her head. "Eung, professor Cho? Annyeong haseyo!"
He smiled, sitting next to her. "Can I sit here?"
"Of course!" she chuckled, moving a little away from him.
He put his coffee on the table and his laptop. "So..." he stared at her, starting a conversation. "Ms. Choi, you seemed busy."
"Eung, Mr. Cho... It's just my research paper." she looked at him. "What about you, professor? What's that?" she tried to peek at his laptop. "What are you up to?  We ran into each other quite a few times, eung?" she smiled.
Chuckling, he uttered, "Which I find is a good thing." He turned her eyes to her.
She smiled, looking at him. Taking off her reading glasses, she said "What's a good thing, professor?"
"That we ran into each other every once in a while..."
"Are you flirting with me, professor?"
"No." he smiled.
She nodded. "Alright."
"Why?" he chuckled before sipping his coffee.
"Nothing. It looks like it."
"By the way, Sooyoung-ah..." he cleared his throat.
Her eyes suddenly grew big. "Yes?"
He smiled. "Why? Can't I call you that? Sooyoung-ah..."
"It's alright, professor. It's just that, I'm not used to it... You always call me 'Ms.Choi'...Sorry, if it bothered you." she smiled hesitantly.
"No...it's alright. You're cute." he chuckled, blushing.
She turned red. Looking down, she asked "What are you trying to say earlier, Mr. Cho?" She then looked at him. "Is there something wrong?"
He shook his head. "Mind if I help you with that?" he asked, pointing on her laptop.
"Ah? I can handle this professor... I want to do this without the help of others so that, afterwards I will feel that I really deserve the credits." She smiled. "I will do good."
"Good point, better not." he said, playing with the cup of his coffee. "I know you will, Sooyoung-ah..." 'Crazy! Cho Kyuhyun, you're scaring her!' he thought.
She cleared , getting her phone from her bag. "Yeoboseyo?"
"Youngie... where are you?! I said you have to meet me here at 6pm, right?!" Sunny yelled, disappointed,
"Eh?" her thoughts were lost for awhile. "Ah! Sunny-ah! Ara...arasseo!" she whispered, covering . "Don't yell at me like that... I will leave now, you just wait..." she put the phone down, turned off her laptop and slipped it in its bag, grabbed her coat and coffee then stood up. She looked at Kyuhyun, "Mr. Cho... I have to go now. My friend is waiting for me."
His eyes having its glasses, looked sad. He looked at her, nodded then turned away. Sooyoung looked confused. "Goodbye, Mr. Cho." She walked away, then he grabbed her and said. "Be careful on your way, Sooyoung-ah..."
She blushed, avoiding eye contact with him. "Yes, professor, you too..."
He let go of her hand as she walked towards the door, thinking about his words. "Be careful on your way, Sooyoung-ah..."
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sooyoung entered the café. There he saw Kyuhyun, sitting with his elbow layed on the table, anxiously waiting for her. Two cups of coffee and a cake were on the table. She took a deep breath before she could continue walking towards him. "Annyeong haseyo!" he stood up, greeting her. She greeted back, sitting opposite on where he is.
She just smiled, saying "What's the matter, Mr. Cho?" she piled up a couple of papers and handed it over to him. "Read it. I hope it's okay with you...I altered some objectives. Mr. Choi will give me the marketing plan later, he said it's still in the process of editing."
He just stared at her, holding the envelope. "Sooyoung-ah... i'm not going to talk about business."
"Oh?" she pretended she didn't know. "Then, what is it?"
He reached out for her hand. "Sooyoung-ah..."
"Mr. Cho, what do you think you're doing?" she looked around, feeling embarassed as she pulled her hand away.
"We shouldn't be like this..." he looked down. "It's been two years, Youngie..."
She glared at him. "What are you talking about? 'We shouldn't be like this?' Ah?"
"I know you're still hurt about what happened between us... But please understand me."
She chuckled sarcastically. "Have you tried to understand me, Kyuhyun-ah?"
"It wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't my choice, you know that." Putting his hands on his forehead, he continued. "You know much I love you, I still do..."
She tried hard not to cry, then sighed, raising an eyebrow. "I know. I did too... I can't believe how much I loved you. It was against all odds, yet you left me for another woman. How was that?"
"Sooyoung-ah... I need to. My parents wanted me to..." Tears started to fill his eyes. "But thinking of you, I couldn't bear it, so I ended up not marrying her." he explained.
"You still left me." she defended. "Now, you're going to show up, asking me to understand you?"
He just stayed silent.
"Kyuhyun-ah...I just still can't forget what you did to me. I don't understand why you're being friendly or generous or why you even bother seeing me— if it's not business, but..."
He interrupted, looking through her eyes. "I love you. I still do..."
"Don't." she shook her head. "Don't do that. Don't do things for me. Stop loving me, Kyuhyun-ah..." she turned her head down, tears filling her eyes. She knew that in her heart there's still a little love left for him. "I'm afraid I might fall for you again." she quickly stood up. Putting her hands on , she quickly left the place and get in her car. Tears were pouring down like rain from her eyes. She just stayed there for a moment, screaming his name before she drove over to a convenience store to buy some drinks. "This will ease the pain." She drove back home and decided to got drunk herself. Her phone suddenly rang. 
"Eung...yeoboseyo?" she greeted in a very weak voice.
"Soo?"
"Hyoyeon-ah..." she smiled. "Why are you calling me all of a sudden? Is there something wrong?"
"Wha— are you drunk?"
"No... I'm just having some drink. I'm not drunk. Not yet..." she chuckled.
"Wait for me."
"No...Don't go. I'm alright. This is just..." she shrugged, pouting her lips.
"Wait for me, Youngie." she put the phone down.
Scratching her head, she looked over her inbox and remembered Siwon's messages which she didn't even opened.

From: Choi Siwon
If you don't reply to this last message, I'll just go over your apartment, alright?
From: Choi Siwon
Where are you? Where shall we meet, Ms. Choi?
From: Choi Siwon
Ms. Choi, are you that busy that you can't even reply?
From: Choi Siwon
Babo ~ I'm waiting for your reply... Zzzz
From: Choi Siwon
Ms. Choi, I'm handing the papers to you later, where shall we meet?
From: Choi Siwon
Good morning to the great Choi Sooyoung ^o^ I'll be seeing you later, Ms. Choi

She chuckled at the sight of his messages. "This punk..." She then decided to call him.
"Ya..." her voice is weak, wavy, soft.
"Eh?" he sound confused. "What happened to you?"
"Nothing... It's just—" she shook her head. "Don't go here."
"Are you sick?"
"No."
"Then what happened to you? What's with that weak voice?"
"I'm alright. Where's the papers?"
Siwon scratched his head in disbelief. "Babo! That's why I said I'll go there because of this papers."
"Eung...geurae?"
Siwon put the phone down, grabbed the papers and immediately drove over Sooyoung's condominium.
He was about to knock on her door when someone called him from behind.
"Oppa!"
He turned his head and foung his cousin. "Hyoyeon-ah!" He then went on to hug her. "How have you been?"
"Ah! I missed you so much. I'm good. You?"
"I missed you too." He said, patting her head. "Quite good..."
"Why are you here?"
He pointed at Sooyoung's door. "Just going to check out on that person."
"Choi Sooyoung?"
"Yeah...You know her?"
"Of course! She's a 'friend' of mine. How do you know her?"
"Business partners...Acquaintance..."
She just nodded as Siwon asked, "How long have you known her?"
"Like most of my life. Why?"
"Does she ever had a boyfriend?"
"Yes, of course..."
"Cho Kyuhyun... What's up with them?"
"Hmm... How did you know about them?"
"I just— I saw it on a notebook of hers..."
"Yes. He is her first love."
He dragged her away from Sooyoung's door and whispered, "He is her professor in college, right? What happened to them?"
Hyoyeon shook her head. "They broke up. She found out that he left her for another. At that time, she was 'all hell breaks loose'... She was even more angry to the world. She was scared to be hurt again, that's why she trusts no one with her heart. Maybe now, it feels like she's trusting you but... she doesn't trust anyone COMPLETELY at all. She's sad all her life and casted all the burden upon herself, yet she acts strong but is weak deep inside."
"Where are her parents?"
She shook her head for the second time. "Her father left them to be with her mom's sister. Then, her mother was diagnosed with cancer, Soo and her eonni couldn't catch up with their mother's bills... Doctors can't even operate on her, so... she pleaded her aunt to sustain her mom and promised that if she does, she can do whatever she wanted to do with Soo, but her aunt refused to; her mom died. She was in deep pain because she didn't even felt to be loved by her mom when she was alive, and then, she already left her. Her eonni... left her to work abroad... And then, there's Kyuhyun, the only man she loved with all her heart, she thought he will stay by her side, forever. But at an instant, he left her. She feels like everyone is leaving her, and intended that everyone is going to leave her. So, she don't rely on people's words, even actions. If you say 'I'll never gonna leave you. I'll always be here for you.' She'll then think of you as one big liar... She had a pure heart back then, she's got the purest heart I've known. But—"
He looked at her, his eyes were both curious and worried. "That explains why..."
She nodded. "I'll talk to you later oppa. I'll just go, check her out. She sounded somewhat drunk or sick." She walked away from him and went inside her apartment.
Looking at the door, he whispered "Sooyoung-ah..." Sooyoung-ah, I'll be your friend. I won't leave you. You can rely on me, trust me... I won't ever leave your side. Let's be friends.